This week on Amtower Off Center, host Mark Amtower interviews Evan Weisel, Tony Welz and Stephen Mackey of W2 Communications on the evolving nature of communications and PR in GovCon.
Source: Amplifying your brand in the GovCon market – Federal News Network
The DUNS number—a unique ID for organizations doing business with the government—will be phased out in favor of a new identifier with a new name and vendor.
Source: Federal Contractor Numbering System Gets First New Managing Vendor After 20 Years – Nextgov
Much that has been written about the bid protest reforms in the Section 809 Panel’s final report has focused on Recommendations 66-69, which expressly address (and propose changes to) the protest process at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) and the Court of Federal Claims (“COFC”). But the 809 Panel’s most impactful recommended changes to the protest process actually may be contained in Recommendation 35 (“Rec. 35”). There, in the context of a discussion of “updating” the Department of Defense’s (“DoD”) process for the acquisition of commercial and related items and services, the 809 Panel proposes to eliminate entirely GAO/COFC protests for such acquisitions valued at less than $15 million (and likely many above that threshold as well).
A move to require state agencies to install keystroke-monitoring software to collect data on work performed by contractors on a computer is getting pushback from tech and government advocacy groups that are urging states to reject proposed legislation requiring keystroke-level oversight in service of greater billing transparency.
Source: Groups oppose states tracking contractor costs with keystroke monitoring — GCN
OMB released an updated memo on category management, giving agencies new goals and reporting requirements for how they are managing the acquisition of commodity products and services.
Source: What does ‘best-in-class’ really mean for federal contracts?
The General Services Administration and the Air Force are looking for bidders in what will become a multiple-award blanket purchase agreement for IT hardware and products to replace the $7 billion Network Centric Solutions-2 contract.
Source: GSA launches Netcents-2 replacement — Defense Systems
The General Services Administration has released a request for quotation for Phase One of its Center of Excellence discovery services, laying the groundwork for GSA to set up CoEs at new partner agencies.
Rather than rely on one contract for the discovery work at each agency, the blanket purchase agreement aims to allow GSA to find the vendor that best fits each agency’s unique needs.
Federal agencies have long been afforded wide discretion in defining solicitation requirements to meet their contracting needs. But are a solicitation’s requirements acceptable even where they’re likely to conflict with local zoning codes? What about where the solicitation documents conflict with one another on whether certain requirements are considered “requirements” at all? And finally, is an LPTA procurement acceptable where such conflicts have undoubtedly led to price uncertainty among the bidders?
Last week, the Air Force awarded contracts to 51 companies in a matter of minutes at its inaugural “Air Force Pitch Day”.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: The Inaugural Air Force Pitch Day was Considered a Success
American Transparency (website: OpenTheBooks.com) is a public charity who’s Government oversight reports present hard data so citizens can “follow the money”. Its stated goal is to enhance public discourse with delineated facts.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: The Government’s Use-it or Lose-it Spending Spree